Making her debut at the French Open and playing on her least favourite surface against a player virtually brought up on the red dirt was always going to be difficult for Sania Mirza. And keeping to the formbook, Gisela Dulko, the 30th seed, beat the Indian teenage sensation 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Grand Slam on Tuesday.
Despite a much-improved performance in the second set by the Indian, Dulko wrapped up the match with a forehand return winner on the fourth match-point.
Dulko will play either Nicole Pratt of Australia or Marissa Irvin of the United States in the second round.
Sania is the first Indian woman to get a direct entry into the main draw at the Slam, but her stay on Court no. 7 at Roland Garros lasted only 77 minutes.
She started the match on the wrong foot, losing her first service game meekly and was down 0-2. The 19-year-old fought back in the next game but was unable to break the Argentine as she lost the next the next two service games.
Leading 5-1, Dulko was serving for the set, but a couple of double faults and baseline winners from Sania set her on the defensive.
Leading 40-15 on her opponent's serve in the eighth game, Sania squandered six break-points before finally clinching the game, as Dulko slammed a forehand into the net.
Sania held serve in the next game but couldn't prevent the Argentine from winning the set 6-3 in 35 minutes.
After the two players traded two breaks each in the second set, Sania held serve to lead, 3-2, for the first time in the match.
The Hyderabadi teenager, having shed her early nerves, moved well on the baseline and cut down on the errors. The powerful returns had started catching the lines. The first serve percentage also jumped from 40 to 63 by the middle of the set.
But Dulko, sensing another break in rhythm in Sania's game, stuck to her guns. Though her service was hardly a threat, the 20-year-old wrested control over the rallies and used the drop shot to great effect. She also imparted a lot of top-spin on the shots to blunt Sania's flat groundstrokes.
Dulko won four games in a row to take the second set 6-3 and a berth in the second round.